


lately i've been breaking glass in your room again

by deimosun



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, Multi, ghost au, the mediator au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-20 04:10:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9475127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deimosun/pseuds/deimosun
Summary: leo can’t exactly pinpoint when it started. his childhood is blurry, quite as if a big blob of black pen ink was dropped on that exact part of his brain and he just can’t really see anything clearly.he didn’t know they were ghosts back then, didn’t know much about anything, but he knew he saw things that shouldn’t have been there.or, the mediator au





	

**Author's Note:**

> title from asw comic i... cannot for the life of me remember the number. soz.

the moment he steps out of the car, he’s embraced by the humidity and coldish temperature of the weather. he can see the mountains on the far left of his vision, and it’s true, his mom was right, they do look pretty cool.

he stretches his body, enjoying the burn before allowing his muscles to recoil again. he’s looking at the house, at their new house.

it's a nice looking house, he supposes. he doesn’t know much about houses but this one seems pretty alright. it has got two floors and a bit of a front yard, and by what his mom said, also a really nice backyard, where he can play footy and nap on the grass while soaking sun rays all he wants.

it seems nice enough, he muses. harmless. _this time it’ll be alright_ , he thinks, as he opens the trunk of the car to get their baggage out. _it’s gonna be just fine_.

 

* * *

 

leo can’t exactly pinpoint when it started. his childhood is blurry, quite as if a big blob of black pen ink was dropped on that exact part of his brain and he just can’t really see anything clearly. he remembers some bits and pieces of his father,  how happy his mom looked, how happy they all were. then he remembers his father dying and for some reason everything gets easier to recall from there on.

he didn’t know they were ghosts back then, didn’t know much about anything, but he knew he saw things that shouldn’t have been there. he had seen weird things before, shadows moving far too fast and people who were there one second just to not be on the next, but he simply refused to think about it. too much trouble, too much of a hassle. it's easier to pretend it’s just a one off, to act as if it’s your brain playing a prank on you instead of believing the irrational.

it wasn’t until he started seeing the ghosts, really seeing them, at age twelve that he realized what really was going on.

the first time, he was walking outside on the back of their apartment building – his day to take the trash out – when he saw it. it looked like a woman, quite young, walking around on the 60’s clothing.

leo knows she wasn’t a performer or anything like that because a) he didn’t leave on that part of town, b) what the fuck would she had been doing alone on a back alley and c) he could see pretty well how the morning light shined through her chest.

he did the only rational thing he could when she approached him and asked what time it was. he dropped the black plastic bag, yelled at the top of his lungs and ran away as fast as he could.

 

* * *

 

it got easier to handle, after the first time.

even though his mom was worried sick and wouldn’t stop fretting over him, insisting maybe he had a ptsd episode or maybe his blood pressure got so low that he saw things, they forgot about it. moved on.

until leo walked right through another one, two weeks later.

he didn’t yell this time, but he did kick the guy on the shin as hard as he could before running away.

 

* * *

 

the moment he steps inside the house, he knows there’s something up with it. his body tenses on its own and he knows he should put an extra effort, he knows how much this change means to his mom but he literally can’t force his legs to move.

it's the same feeling he always gets, a feeling that got ingrained into his life more and more by each year he lived on.

a chill that runs through his entire body, no matter how hot the weather actually is, it still makes him have goose bumps – and it’s not just that, it’s not just a sensation. it's a _feeling_. it's a feeling that starts low on the pit of his stomach that there’s something wrong, something off, something that doesn’t belong but he can’t quite pinpoint what it exactly is.

his mom stops walking and looks at him, her arms filled with two cardboard boxes labeled as kitchen supplies on leo’s ugly handwriting.

“are you okay, darling?” she asks, all worried, eyebrows scrunching up on her forehead. leo forcefully shakes his head and steps inside the house, dragging the huge luggage behind with him.

“i'm fine mom, just got a bit chilly.”

the looks she gives him tells him she knows that is a lie, but she doesn’t probe any further.

he drags the bag behind him inside the house and steps outside quickly again, trying to forget the feeling.

some things are easier said than done.

 

* * *

 

he usually runs away from it, actually. avoids potentials ghost scenes. old buildings, abandoned houses, deserted streets. the problem is when the ghost realizes leo can see them, they just won’t fucking leave him be.

from the knowledge he was able to gather during his seventeen years of life, he’s probably not alone on this – and by this he means, seeing ghosts and being forced to deal with them. there’s probably someone out there who also has to deal with this crap on a daily basis just like him, but so what?

what matters is right now, and right now? he’s alone on his own, having to deal with all this, like he always been so far. nothing changes.

 

* * *

 

leo's mom is a nurse. she works full time at the hospital, usually at night, which fits really well with leo’s ghost hunting schedule. he actually feels a little bit guilty about thinking like this, but well.

they moved because this was a better job, better pay – it wasn’t that far away from his old city, just a few hours by car, but it was a smaller town.

he didn’t want to come, not really, but this is not the sort of thing he could’ve kept his mom from. they are all each other got. family doesn’t work like that. so he accepted, nodded and smiled all on the right places but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s been barely a few days and he already feels the absence of his best friends on his life so much it’s unreal.

 

* * *

 

“this place is haunted.” is the first thing leo says when geri picks up the phone.

leo is playing with a string on his jeans (he fell and ripped it when he was chasing a girl who insisted she had to kill her best friend so they could be really together forever), looking outside the window on his bedroom.

“well, hello to you too. i've been fine, thank you very much. so has cesc. he sends hi.”

leo rolls his eyes and gets up, walking closer to the glass, pushing the curtains a bit to the side, looking curiously down to the back yard.

“i'm serious geri! there’s like, something going on here. i can feel it. mom said she looked up the history of the house and she said it was clean but it doesn’t feel clean at all.”

geri sighs over the line and leo can hear the sound of a chair moving, before the line gets stable again.

“maybe you’re being paranoid.” geri tells him, the sound of something being opened on the background. probably cesc eating his third sneakers bar. leo's heart hurts from how much he already misses them.

he lets out a dejected sigh, and flops down on his bed, the curtains flapping against the wall.

“maybe i am.” he looks at the ceiling and thinks about how he wants to glue some glow in the dark stars, about how they remind him of home. “tell me about your day.”

geri hums a sound out, quiet and tender, like he knows, and he does. he really does. he doesn’t need leo to spell it out, to say i miss you i love you please it hurts.

they haven’t been friends for all those years for nothing.

so geri laughs, puts the phone on voice speaker, and starts going on about the latest fight cesc got himself into.

leo listen to it all, with a smile on his face, staring at the ceiling.

glow in the dark stars will have to do the job just fine.

 

* * *

 

he knows he’s about to see a ghost before he sees one, he knows he’s about to find another translucent fucker right behind the door to his room. he hates it, hates how it’s out of his control, how it’s not his choice, how he has no say on all of this.

he puts his hand on the handle and opens it anyway, before stepping inside the room at closing the door behind him.

and man, weren’t his instincts right.

there’s a guy standing near the wall of his room, staring at the mirror in what can only be describe as awe.

leo sighs and steps further into the room.

the ghost looks at him, his eyebrows rising high on his forehead. he looks very confused.

 “listen.” he starts, staring the ghost down. “i'm sorry about what happened to you buddy, but this room is mine. so if you kindly would fuck off, that would be greatly appreciated, thanks!”

the boy just looks even more confused. he’s staring at his own hands now like he’s entranced by how he can see through himself if the light hits him just right.

leo takes an annoyed breath and walks closer, right until he’s near the ghost’s personal space.

“i’m only going to repeat myself once more. get out, this is my room.”

the ghost still stares at him confusedly.

“adiós? ciao? au revoir? sayonara? good fucking bye? get out of my room?” leo tells him again, an impatient timber clear on his voice.

now the ghost finally is paying attention to him, looking a bit shocked even and leo thinks, _good_.

the boy leaves then, on something that resembles a whirlwind, opening the window so hard that he manages to get it stuck.

leo sighs and closes the drapes, too lazy to deal with it right now.

just his goddamn luck.

 

* * *

 

on the next day, leo really, really had a lot of things to do. he had to unpack all he could on the house and organize as much as he was able to because his mom was already going to work and it would be just brutal to let it all for her to do. so he spent the whole time unpacking, putting the things into place, shoving the boxes on the yard, rinse and repeat all over again.

since his mom was doing day shifts to get acquainted with the hospital during the first week, he had the whole house for himself before school came back. he slept in late, had a glass of strawberry yogurt and a bowl of cornflakes for breakfast before finally doing his chores.

and he’d never would have guessed but fuck, moving houses is so much work.

so it’s true to say he was knackered when it got around seven pm, getting up from the living room floor (boxes and bubble wrap everywhere, every fucking where), stretched his hands high up over his head before finally checking on his phone.

his mom had sent a message, explaining she’d be staying late to go out with coworkers for which he just sent a quick _ok have fun mum b safe!!_ back. 

geri had also sent him a bunch of snaps from during the day, which included cesc sleeping with a pencil stuck on his ear, the stars on his own bedroom ceiling (leo took a screenshot of that one) and a video of both of them being chased by an angry goose. he also sent a bunch of desperate messages at around three pm asking about the netflix password just to end the twenty eight messages with a _oh nvm i found it inside my phone case lol_.

he starts towards the stairs, his friends’ smile on his mind. some of the things he misses he can’t even quite name.

 

* * *

 

the moment he steps through the doorstep of his room, he knows something is out of place.

this time? a ghost half hidden by the side of his bed.

leo sighs.

he opens his mouth to say something when he hears a sob. he closes it, looks at the boy on the side of his bed. leo knows what he should do: just kick him out, absolutely merciless.

the sobs get louder and leo feels sorry for the ghost.

“hey…” he asks tentatively, still on the beginning of his room. “are you okay?”

there's more sobs and the sound of snot being blown out of a nose before the ghost speaks up.

“i don’t know what happened to me,” he sniffles out, voice tiny and tearful. “i have no idea what happened to me at all i just woke up here and i've never even been to this place before, i don’t even know where it is, but i'm stuck and i can’t leave. and you keep being mean at me.”

leo stares at him and feels awkward. also guilty.

“…hey. i'm sorry if i sounded… harsh.”  leo tells him, walking closer and then kneeling in front of where the boy is glued to the wall, between his bedside table and the bed. ‘it's just that your kind isn’t very warm towards me, so i never am sure of what i'm supposed to do.”

one green eye peeks out from two folded arms over knees at him, bright green with flecks of gold.

“my kind?” he’s asked, the curiosity on the boy’s voice as clear as day.

“yeah? ghosts?”

“oooooohhhhhhhhh, so _that’s_ what i am!”

leo is staring at the boy. there's tear tracks on his face and it looks wet. he looks real, even though leo knows for sure that he is not.

“yeah. you’re a ghost.”

the boy makes a humming noise, like he’s asserting this information inside his head.

“what your name?” he asks, snapping leo out of his trance.

leo shakes his head and says “i'm leo.”

the boy smiles brightly.

“nice to meet you! i'm neymar.”

 

* * *

 

after he found a sobbing ghost on his bedroom floor, leo sort of felt like it was a moral and/or job obligation to talk with him. be kind, or whatever.

so he did talk to neymar. explained some things neymar asked ( _why am i here? does this mean i'm dead? what about my family? what is there on the afterlife?_ to which leo’s answers were _i don’t know_ , _probably_ , _i don’t know_ and _i don’t know_ ) and tried to help him remember anything, anything at all as to why he was stuck in a house he never went before with a boy just his age he never had met before.

to no avail. neymar simply had no idea why he was stuck there, if he had died or been murdered or whatever or any important details that leo could google about, like last name or a possible car crash. nothing at all.

he seemed pretty hopeless after their talk, a sad kicked puppy look into his eyes and leo sighed, put his hand over neymar’s that was still laying on the carpeted floor.

“i'll help you, okay? i promise.”

neymar's eyes light up again. leo looked away.

(neymar’s hand felt warm and solid under his own. he didn’t let go.)

 

* * *

 

the thing is, neymar is so cute to be around.

when he gets super excited, things will start rattling around the house on a quick rhythm, cups and picture frames shaking, dangerously to fall towards the ground. when he’s sad, it’ll seem like there’s a cloud looming around, everything is dark and electronics won’t work properly.

but when he’s happy, oh. that’s the best. his laughter seems to feel every corner of the house, fill every little spot with a bright sunny energy that leo has never seen or felt before. they are watching funny cat videos on youtube and neymar goes insane about it, laughing until there’s tears on his eyes, until he’s rolling around the floor and leo swears he feels the vibrations from neymar’s ribcage against his skin.

he's smiling too, proper wide, showing teeth and everything.

“what are you smiling about?” neymar asks from where he’s laying on the floor, hair flat against his forehead.

“nothing, you dumbass.” leo answers, embarrassed to have been caught.

neymar just smiles wider, gets up and jumps on him, starts tickling him –

“well, now you’ll be smiling at something!”

leo's heart flutters around his ribcage but he’s sure it’s because he’s out of breath from the tickle war.

 

* * *

 

he meets sir guardiola on a tuesday. leo has always hated tuesdays.

sir guardiola is a weird guy, is the thing. he’s not a teacher and he’s not a director, but somehow he’s part of the school board. he’s just an important local figure apparently – whatever that even means – and he likes spending time at the local catholic school, searching and guiding the lost youngsters. he likes to tell a story about how he was lost too, a sheep without a shepherd, but under the lord everything turned possible.

(geri would have a laughing fit if he knew he was going to catholic school. laugh right on his face and ask which one was his favorite saint so far.)

leo has absolutely no idea what the guy kept going on about on auditorium at the first day of school, but he knew something weird was up when he already got called into the principal’s office ten minutes into his first lecture of the year.

he sighed, murmured a sorry at the teacher and walked towards where the administration part of the school was settled.

thing is, it wasn’t the principal who wanted to talk to him. it was sir guardiola.

“well, look who we have here!” he exclaimed, quite excitedly. leo looked around the room, survival instincts speaking louder, just in case he needed a way out. the window was on the second floor, but he wouldn’t die or anything if he need to jump. just in case.

turns out, he didn’t actually need to do anything drastic. the guy just kept going on and being cryptic, talking about the future and the past and spirits, giving anecdotes about sheep and snakes and leo was way too tired for this kind of shit that early in the morning, so he just tuned out and kept imagining what neymar was up to back at home. it was nice, kept him distracted. he even smiled once.

 

* * *

 

slowly and surely, neymar and leo befriend each other, is the thing.

leo wasn’t sure what to do, how to proceed. he had simply no idea. but neymar didn’t need to be told yes twice, and with the slightest opening he was already all over leo’s life, giggling about some dumb joke or about how funny it was that leo didn’t reach the tallest cupboards.

neymar always made things come down for him.

leo has something to look out for when he gets home from school and neymar feels pretty excited about which movie they’ll watch today (one thing they figured out is that neymar’s… accident was recent, because he knew technology and everything else of the sort. he even knew a lot about pop culture).

leo didn’t wanna be friends anyone, he just wanted to brood and nap – geri’s words, not his – but neymar wouldn’t let go. he’d appear under the covers with leo on the sofa and finish watching narcos, or simply watch as leo meddled around with domestic affairs.

it was nice, it felt natural. leo wasn’t used to that. you give too much and it will feel weird, stiff, like something is extra and not meant to be there.

some things you just need a little bit of extra time to get used to.

 

* * *

 

because it’s just his luck, just his goddamn fucking luck, he already had a bastard chasing after him right after barely being on the town for a few couple of weeks.

he was walking home even though it wasn’t a five minute walk but he wanted to get acknowledged with the neighborhood as soon as possible when he decided to stop on a gas station to buy some chocolate and a water bottle.

what does he sees inside?

some dead asshole trying to steal a case of soda, just literally floating it around. as if nobody would notice a twelve pack of coca cola cans flying on their own.

leo sighed, walked in, closed the door loudly and yelled _hey!_ out of the top of his lungs, which made the dude drop the cans on the floor before vanishing out of thin air, upon realizing he wasn’t no longer alone.

the cashier looks at leo like he’s nuts and leo shrugs, grabs his stuff and pays up.

after a few times doing this, you simply learn not to care about looking like you’re completely out of your mind.

 

* * *

 

apparently, after realizing it wasn’t all alone, the ghost wanted to speak with leo. it kept track of his body heat so when leo went back where it was hanging out, it would know. and it _did_.

leo had just gone out to buy a case of grape juice and a bunch of food – pasta, tomato sauce, frozen pizza, some meat, fruits. he was using the car even though he wasn’t technically allowed to drive, but whatever. his mom said it was okay for emergencies. food does count as an emergency on his books.

the ghost followed him out of the supermarket and kept it whispering/yelling “hey!! you!! come here!!!” from a very dark, very suspicious alley. leo sighs.

it goes as usual.

not that leo expected any different, but. hope is the last one to die, isn’t that how they say it.

the guy was angry that he had died, blablabla, i didn’t deserve it, etc etc i refuse to go to the other side!!!

leo sighed.

“listen here, buddy.” he started, trying to look as menacingly as possible. “you will go to the afterlife. now, i don’t know what is there because duh, i'm not fucking dead but you can’t stick around. that’s not how it works.”

“says who?”

“well, i don’t know. ask god when you meet him up there, not me. i'm not a prophet, you stupid fucker.”

when the flying piece of wood came, leo can’t say he wasn’t expecting it.

 

* * *

 

leo ended up having to use tomato sauce to conjure a pentagram and the frozen chicken as an offering so he’d be able to hastily open a portal and force the head of the ghost to the other side. quite literally. he hit its head until the soft lavender light started to shine through, and then finished pushing it through with a final kick on its ass.

leo steps away, admiring his work, watching the portal close on itself.

when he turns back, he realizes he’s not alone. his blood freezes on his veins, and he’s already opening his mouth to try and make up an excuse to what weirdly resembles at a poor attempt on a satanic ritual when – wait a minute.

“dude. what the fuck. don't i know you from somewhere.” leo questions, confused, sweat and blood running down from his forehead. he wipes it off with the back of his hand, annoyed. he was hit on the head with a glass bottle. it stings.

“well, well, well! if it isn’t the young lionel messi.” sir guardiola says (know recognizeable on the shady light of the alley), looking down at the dead chicken near his foot. he pokes it with his cane. 

leo stares at him.

sir guardiola stares back.

suddenly, sir guardiola seems to be hit by lighting, because he looks up quickly and points his cane towards leo.

“you should get out of here,” he says, nodding to himself. “before they arrive.”

leo frowns.

“they? they who?”

“the cops, obviously! you made quite a ruckus here. don't worry, i'll deal with this… mess. you go home. your mother is worried.”

“how do you even know that –“

“i simply know, leo.”

leo narrows his eyes.

“you’re full of shit.” he says, before turning around and leaving.

 

* * *

 

it's already over midnight and since his mom is still working day shifts so far, it leaves him with only one option. getting in through the window so he could lie and say he got home pretty soon, she just didn’t see him coming in.

it’s all going very well, not problem at all until leo trips over the bedside table and he sees it happening before it actually does, in slow motion.

everything falls down, his phone charger hitting the floor loudly, a scattering noise that is even louder on the silence of the night, a noise so sharp that it rings inside his ears for seconds after the lamp has stopped rolling around on the carpet.

leo finally allows his body to move again, his thigh slowly working from the window stool, one step away from being fully inside the room when he turns his head up and a grimace appears on his face.  

“this is not what it looks like.”

his mom is looking at him from his bedroom door, sleepily rubbing her eyes, like she knows this is exactly what it looks like.

she looks tired and confused and sleepy and leo’s heart clenches with guilty because he didn’t chose any of this, all of this, he never fucking wanted to see spirits or be chased by them. it wasn’t his goddamn choice. he’s very glad for the lights being out. he doesn’t her to see him like this. it would only make things worse.

“leo, please.” his mom says, her voice quiet as she approaches him. “i worry about you, you know.”

leo hops inside the room and kicks the black backpack he had thrown earlier inside discretely under the bed before walking towards her.

“mom. i'm fine. really. i swear.” he reassures her, holding both her hands with his own.

“leo, sweetheart – i know this change was asking a lot from you, that it’s something huge. i know how you wish you had stayed with your friends and i'm sorry that couldn’t have happened, but please talk to me. i'm worried.”

leo takes her in, and for a moment he thinks he should, maybe, tell her. he knows she knows about it to some extent, it’s impossible for her to not know, she was with him when it happened the first time.

but her eyes are tired, there are deep bags from night shifts under them, and she looks sleep deprived and leo can’t bear the thought of putting one more reason to worry upon her shoulders.

so he just smiles and nods, hugs her and says “it’s okay mom, i swear.”

she hugs him back for a solid minute before leaving, closing the door softly behind her.

the moment it’s no longer open, neymar materializes in front of him and it truly does say a lot about leo’s experience that he did not scream, not even a little bit.

“is everything okay?” neymar asks, a worried look on his face.

leo shakes his head as to answer a yes but winces when it actually hurts. he had forgotten he had got hit there.

“what happened to your head?” neymar asks again, stepping closer, lifting his hands up slowly so he can touch leo’s forehead.

he's taller than leo, so leo sort of has to look up to see his eyes. they look concerned and the frown on his eyebrows is ridiculously cute. leo curses under his breath, stepping away and going towards the other side of the room, so hopefully neymar can’t tell he’s actually blushing.

“got into a fight. with one of your kind.” leo answers, moving near the bed so he can strip off his dirty clothes. he smells like garbage.

“is this the ones you talked about? the not so nice ones, the aggressive ones?”

leo nods and takes his shirt off, his shoulders hurting a bit from when he got thrown against one of the trash cans.

“this guy was mad at me because i couldn’t bring him back to life.”

“that’s stupid!” neymar exclaims, appearing suddenly sitting on the bed, by his side. “it’s not your fault you can’t control life and death.”

leo snorts, balling his clothes up and throwing them on the washing basket.

“well, tell that to them.”

it's quiet then, just leo shuffling around the room, getting ready for bed. he takes a quick shower to get rid of the smell and puts on pajama pants, brushes his teeth.

he’s not – he’s not sure what to do when he gets out of the bathroom and neymar is still there, now laying on the bed. leo feels awkward. he doesn’t want to kick him out, but he also doesn’t know what to do.

so he settles for just shuffling under the blankets, covering himself up to his chin and staying there, low key staring at neymar into the darkness.

it's silent again, and when leo is almost falling asleep neymar’s voice brings him back.

“i don’t like that they hurt you.” he says and leo can tell, even without looking, that his brows are furrowed and his lips are pursued. “i worry.”

leo thinks it over – it’s nice that neymar worries, it really is but at at the same time. he can take care of himself. he’s grown enough, he’s been doing this for longer than neymar has been being dead.

“nothing bad will happen, don’t worry.”

“i still worry though.” he says, still serious, but then with a much more lighter tone, adds “who will i watch tv with if you just show up dead someday?”

leo laughs, choking the sound against the fabric in front of his mouth.

“i don’t know, some people say my mum is pretty chill.”

he falls asleep like that, neymar on his bed with him.

he swears he feels their hands touching, but when he wakes up, he’s alone. he pretends he’s not upset by that fact.

 

* * *

 

 **there's another one like me @ my school** , he sends that to geri, because well. he doesn’t know how to feel about that.

_wht d u man anthr 1 liek u?¿¿?¿??_

**cesc stop typing youre illiterate**

**and ugh, it’s this random dude. sir guardiola. hes knighted or something, i don’t even know what that means**

_is this good or bad_

**i was hoping youd tell me?????**

_maybe you could ask for tips? idk dude_

**Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa**

_i agree. awesome idea_

**shut up geri**

**shit gtg he just rolled up to me on the sidewalk on his limousine. this is the kind of shit im talking about**

_? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?_

 

* * *

 

leo is almost inside the school when a limousine stops right on his side and starts following him. he looks up from his phone, pockets it and sighs, stopping dead on his tracks and taking off his earphones. when he turns around towards the car, the window is already opened and he can see sir guardiola’s huge bald head and creepy/overly friendly smile on the window. the man is wearing a light pink cardigan today, with a grey tie. he weirdly enough pulls it off.

“good morning leo!” he announces, like it actually is a good day.

it's not. leo didn’t sleep enough last night, he woke up late, his mom had already went to work and neymar was nowhere around.

“hello sir.” he says back. his face is closed off. the guy seems unaffected by this.

“how are you on this beautiful morning?”

leo just stares at him. sir guardiola coughs awkwardly.

“actually leo, i'm here to talk about our little meeting last night – “

“oh my god.”

“yes, quite exactly. you see, some things didn’t go as… planned. an old enemy of mine is out and free to do whatever he wants now, because he escaped through the portal you opened.”

“oh my god,” leo repeats again, before opening the limousine’s door and getting inside the car.

 

* * *

 

“what do you mean, an old enemy of yours got out? what the fuck? this has _never_ happened before!” leo asks, quite angrily. he doesn’t want anything to do with this, why do things just keep getting more and more complicated, why always him.

sir guardiola takes a deep breath and looks down, sort of like he’s embarrassed.

“it’s… complicated. we have a complicated relationship. he's not actually a ghost, but he’s not human either and for motives that are really important and totally not relevant right now, i locked him there inside. so he wouldn’t do any more evil to this world.” sir guardiola explains, looking calm again and unperturbed. “and i need your help because he’s here, right now, and he could ruin everything. he knows my energy by heart so he will sense me coming, but he won’t see you. that’s why i'm asking your help.”

leo just stares speechless at him, like he can’t quite believe what he is hearing.

“you’ve got to be kidding me. i barely know you. i barely know you and now you want my help to chase an enemy from your past because he can sense your ghost hunter energy or whatever. i can’t believe this.”

 “well, you were the one who set him free.”

“which wouldn’t have been a problem if you HADN’T SCREWED UP THINGS FIRST or if you weren’t there at all!!! he wouldn’t have escaped if he hadn’t fucking felt your energy there!!! he wouldn’t even have known there was a portal there at all.”

“leo i already told you he’s not a ghost – “

“do i look like i care.”

they both sit on silence after leo’s words.

 

* * *

 

leo's favorite strategy, avoidance, didn’t work this time.

it didn’t only not work, it also came back to bite him on the ass.

not wanting to hear what sir guardiola had to say only ended up screwing him over, because mr evil, sir guardiola’s ex lover/enemy? he ended up coming for them _both_. god knows how he knew about leo, but he did. and he was merciless. he tricked them – manipulated the telephone electronic waves so he sent fake text messages to each of them, asking to meet each other at the school park with the water fountain at night.

the moment they stepped into the zone, it all seemed like it locked up all around them – like an electric field, or something of the sort. they couldn’t leave, couldn’t run away to get help or anything to end that bastard for once and for all. they were trapped, like lab rats and leo has never been good at feeling caged.

leo didn’t want to be there, he had nothing to do with it, he was just there as bait and he couldn’t fucking leave. mr evil was busy talking with sir guardiola, yelling and throwing things at his head and leo kept trying to find a way to leave, just to get the hell out of there.

“i can’t – i can’t focus with you running around!” mr evil suddenly yelled at him and leo stopped dead on his tracks. “fucking stop moving!”

he saw sir guardiola looking at him, eyes wide, hands reaching out as if he could stop time but the moment leo realized, it was already too late. he could do nothing but watch the wooden bench coming into his direction, he couldn’t get away. it hit him full force on his chest, knocking him back and making him skip until his body hit a three.

he figures he got knocked out for a few seconds, because when he comes back, neymar is in front of him, trying to wake him up desperately.

“leo, please!” neymar is yelling, kneeled where leo is laying on the ground with blood coming out of his mouth and his breathing coming out unevenly and shortly, a hand gripping his chest.

leo tries to push him away, to get on his feet but he just _can’t_. his body won’t move, refuses to, like it was driven to the limit on its last drops of fuel and now it’s just this useless clump of meat and bones.

“leo, please.” neymar begs again, voice teary and he grabs hold of leo’s chin, forcing leo to look at him. “leo please, look at me.”

leo looks.

neymar is staring at him, pretty eyes and pretty face, just as beautiful as ever, the scar on his brow a lighter shade than his skin.

“i'm going to – i'm going to end this, leo.” neymar says, and leo’s body snaps tight, like someone just pulled his strings and he starts babbling _nonono neymar are you crazy you can’t –_ but neymar just shuts up him with a kiss, tender and lovely, just like he always is, just like always.

“i've been – practicing, yeah? i wanted to protect you. i didn’t feel okay with you out there, crazy ghosts down your throat and you were on your own. in case something would happen, i could fix something. in case i had to go on my own. i can open a portal now, and i don’t know much about it, i won’t lie. but from what i've tried, it’ll suck everything that’s not from here.” he explains quietly to leo, hands still holding leo’s face, always so soft and open.

sir guardiola and mourinho are battling on the background, yelling crazy things at each other, something about the past and broken hearts.

a lovers’ spite.

leo can’t believe he got caught up on a lovers’ spite.

“neymar you can’t –“ leo starts but cuts himself off when he moves wrong while trying to get more support against the wall, something on his chest stings. “that means you’ll be sucked too. that means you’ll be gone too.”

neymar smiles at him then, quite sadly.

“i love you, okay? and i want you to remember this.” he bends down and kisses leo for one final time, before stepping away and facing the two adults fighting like teens.

leo doesn’t remember much after that, not really, because he did get his head knocked pretty good against the wall but for as long as he managed to keep his eyes open, he saw neymar opening a big circle of light, the same soft lilac light right in front of him, near where mr evil was.

all leo heard before passing out was the yells and then just silence.

 

* * *

 

when he wakes up again, he’s back on his bedroom, sitting on the floor, his back propped upon the wall.

the glass on his window is still broken, neymar is nowhere to be seen and leo can feel his lips still tingling from their kiss.

he doesn’t know how long he stayed there on the floor, just hearing the wind come through the broken panel on his wall – trying to hear something more, something that wasn’t there, anything that showed he wasn’t alone.

he was on his own.

he wanted to cry out of frustration, out of anger, how unfair it is that the only time he finally had something he was happy about, it slipped away.

instead, he takes of his clothes and balls them up before shoving them inside a plastic bag and hiding it underneath his bed.

he falls asleep thinking about green eyes, blonde mowhawks and high pitched laughs.

 

* * *

 

the next day, neymar is not around either. he was sure he’d come back, he was so sure of it, but neymar still isn’t here and leo doesn’t know what to do. ghosts aren’t supposed to go to the other side before finishing their mission on earth! nothing changed for neymar, so why is he not back yet?

leo broods and stays in bed all day, tells his mom he’s sick. he knows she doesn’t believe him but he also knows she pretends she does.

he doesn’t pick up any calls (sir guardiola, geri & cesc) and keeps his head shoved under a pillow, trying to force himself not to cry.

 

* * *

 

he thinks maybe by the third day, the third time is always the charm, isn’t it?

neymar still isn’t back. the window is no longer open, his mom patched it up with some cardboard. the glass shards are no longer on the floor, either. neymar still isn’t there.

 

* * *

 

his mom is really, really worried. she asks what is wrong, leo please tell me! but he can’t tell her, there’s no way to explain this. so he just asks to be left alone and to not be bothered. he pretends he doesn’t see the sad look on her face as she closes his bedroom door.

 

* * *

 

after four days, leo finally texts geri back. he’s still pissed off at sir guardiola and planning to avoid him for the rest of his life if possible.

**im okay, don’t worry**

_how am i supposed not to worry when i haven’t heard from you in days!!! i texted your mom just to know if you were still even alive at all_

leo feels guilty about this, he really does, but he couldn’t stand doing anything at all, he couldn’t, just couldn’t do it.

**im sorry. bad shit happened. you know. sir guardiola had an evil ex lover turned into enemy and it ended up killing neymar**

_neymar,  ghost boy?_

**yeah**

_shit_

_im sorry_

_shit leo im sorry_

_do you want me to come down?_

**no, its fine. im okay. don’t worry.**

_no youre not_

_but ill be_

_its okay_

 

* * *

 

when he wakes up again, neymar is on his bedroom.

leo double checks, shakes his head and neymar is still there, smiling and looking more real than ever. leo tumbles out of bed, running towards him – he missed him so much, it’s out of this world.

he hugs him, hugs neymar tight and rubs his back, smells him, the same sweet soft smell still there, not having changed one bit. leo’s eyes are closed shut and he’s holding so tight because he’s afraid if he lets go, neymar will slip away from him once again.

“leo, listen – i can’t breathe.” neymar tells him and it does sounds a bit strangled.

“ghosts don’t need to breath.” leo murmurs against his neck, refusing to let go.

“leo, listen. i'm not a ghost anymore.”

leo immediately lets go but doesn’t step away, keeps close and looks at him like he’s crazy.

“what happened? how can you be here if you’re not a ghost? you were dead, you can’t be here!” he asks, disbelief painted all over on his voice.

“i – i don’t really know? i was in a come, because of a car crash. i guess it’s because your mom was taking care of me, on the icu? and apparently she talked about you a lot to me, like she just told me about you and stuff, because they say it’s good to talk with patients on a coma. i guess that’s why i was drawn to you, why I first woke up here. maybe my first memory back here was your house and your family and you.” neymar said, both hands still holding leo’s, and added dismissively “and my bet is that true love’s kiss woke me up, or something. it’s all very blurry you know? i don’t really remember much from how it was there.”

leo seemed to be thinking it over, chewing on his lower lip, thumbs rubbing the skin on the back of neymar’s hands.

he ended up nodding and then smiling, which prompted neymar to smile, too.

“you saved me,” leo says, feeling light and well for the first time in days. feeling like things were finally, finally on their own place in days.

leo laughed and hugged him, finally, finally feeling real, actually real, for the first time.

“you look even prettier like this,” he mumbled against neymar’s ear and he could feel neymar’s giggled against his chest, warm, alive and so so happy.

he never wanted to let go.

and if it was up to him, he wouldn’t.


End file.
